


Talk Me Down

by nothingwithoutyouxo



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-19
Updated: 2016-09-19
Packaged: 2018-08-16 03:06:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8084302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nothingwithoutyouxo/pseuds/nothingwithoutyouxo
Summary: Rose Granger-Weasley had been more than surprised when Scorpius Malfoy had cornered her on her way to her charms class and asked her on a date. She knew immediately that something had to be very wrong since it wasn't her that Scorpius fancied but her cousin Albus, regardless if the two idiots were aware of it yet or not.  The more time that passed the more Rose and Albus were discovering that the Scorpius that returned from the past might not be the one that lived in the present. Panicked and anxious the two of them made a pact to bring their friend back.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again, friends. I know it's been a very long while. I’ll try to keep this short but basically I read the Cursed Child and I didn’t really like it all that much, particularly the ending, so I thought I’d experiment with it a bit. Thus this fic was born. 
> 
> I wrote this over the course of about a week following reading the play. The italics are paraphrased lines from the play to connect this to that. Oh, I'm also in love with the idea of a fierce friendship between Albus & Rose (something we were robbed of in CC) and so that's very strong in this piece. Thank you all!

_ “I can’t believe I asked out Rose Granger-Weasley!”. _

_ “I can’t believe she said yes!”. _

…

Rose Granger-Weasley had been more than surprised when Scorpius Malfoy had cornered her on her way to her charms class. She was meeting up with her friends there, having stayed in the Gryffindor common room a little longer than usual in order to finish off the book she was currently making her way through - something that her mother had sent her as it was her favourite book at Rose’s age – so she was alone as she made her way down the corridors and up the ever-moving staircases.

“Rose!” she’d heard him say, turning around at the sound of her name. She was friendly with Scorpius and Albus, a lot had happened since the start of the year and she felt as if maybe she’d been too hard on the two of them previously. She watched as Scorpius approached her, beaming at her and she thought that maybe he was about to tell her something stupid that Albus had done. Because he always had that smile on his face when he looked at Albus. She was approximately 900% sure that the two of them had been making heart-eyes at each other since their first meeting on the Hogwarts Express.

“Hi Scorpius,” she greeted politely, returning his smile.

“I have something to ask you,” he hesitated, coming to a stop in front of her. Scorpius looked around them as if to check that no one else was there. Two second-years ran passed them, yelling something about how Professor McGonagall was going to kill them for being late again.

“Scorpius, I’d rather not be late for charms,” Rose laughed. His smile had faded away almost entirely and he suddenly looked very nervous. She wondered if maybe something terrible had happened to her cousin. But that wouldn’t explain why he was smiling initially.

“It’ll only take a minute,” Scorpius said ,  taking an anxious step closer to her. She watched as he looked around himself again but the corridor was empty now. “Would you like to go out with me?”

Rose wasn’t expecting that at all. She knew that there was no way Scorpius could mistake her for Albus, that would be completely ridiculous. She wondered briefly if maybe this was his way of practicing because surely he would be asking Albus out soon anyway. But as she looked at Scorpius she saw nothing but pure honesty in his expression. She was utterly dumbfounded and made a mental note to send an owl to her mother after charms to see if she had any idea what the hell had gotten into the two of them. Maybe Scorpius would be using her to make Albus jealous, but she hadn’t heard that he was seeing someone. He would surely have told her if he was. A group of first years dashed by them, bringing Rose back into reality, and she realised that she hadn’t given Scorpius an answer yet. And he was looking more and more on edge with each second that passed, his confidence slipping. Rose thought over her options for a moment. There had to be more to this than what there seemed to be. She would just need the time to figure it out.

Rose took a deep breath before answering. “Yes,” she said, because that was the only answer she could give that would allow her that time. She was taken aback by the way Scorpius’ face lit up at her response.

“I can’t wait to tell Albus,” he beamed again and started rushing back down towards the staircases.

Rose paused for another moment, entirely confused. Then she remembered that she’d been on her way to charms. She looked around her and noticed she was alone in the corridor. When she owled her mother about all of this she would have to leave out the part that a Malfoy had made her late for class. 

***

Scorpius had hauled himself up in the library, stating that he needed to do some research on something or another. Albus wasn’t sure if it was for an assignment or something else so he’d let his best friend slip away and was slowly making his way down to the Great Hall, hoping that maybe he’d find someone else to spend some time with. He was grateful when he caught sight of Rose. She was seated with a group of her friends, a mix of Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. She looked up at him as if she could sense his eyes on her, smiling when she caught sight of him. Albus watched as she excused herself from her little group and made her way over to him.

“We need to talk,” Rose said to him, taking his sleeve and gently tugging until he started following her into a corner of the room. There wasn’t usually all that many people in the Great Hall at this time and it seemed she wanted to take advantage of the situation.

“Have I done something wrong?” Albus asked automatically, because that was usually the case when she was this serious.

“I hope not,” she smirked.

“Then what is it?”

Rose shook her head, suddenly noticing that she wasn’t quite sure how to word this. “I trust that Scorpius would have told you that he asked me out on a date,” she began.

Albus nodded wordlessly, his expression turning to one of confusion. “What does that have to do with me?”

“Do you know why?” she pressed.

Albus shook his head. “I don’t know,” he admitted, having no idea where she was going with this.

“Has he ever mentioned me to you before? Has he ever said anything about me to you?”

Albus shook his head again. “Only once, when we went back in time and you didn’t exist. He was a little shaken that you disappeared, but I think it might have been the stress,” he explained. “It wasn’t an ideal situation to be in.”

Rose nodded, seemingly in thought for a moment. “So he’s never shown any interest in me at all?”

“He’s never mentioned you as much as I’ve heard other people talk about people they fancy,” Albus confirmed.

“This is all very strange,” she mused. “Do you think he might be … still dealing with some shock after everything that happened? Maybe this is his way with dealing with it?”

Albus shrugged, his eye caught a Ravenclaw sneering at him and he briefly wished that he could just leave.

“Albus?” Rose caught his attention again, his eyes snapped back to her.

“Sorry,” he apologized. “I don’t know where you’re going with this.”

“I don’t know either,” she admitted. “But something must be wrong because I don’t think I’m the one that Scorpius should be asking out.”

The confusion seeped back into Albus’ expression again as he looked at Rose. He must have been missing something.

Rose almost laughed at how clueless Albus was. “Are you happy that your best friend asked me out?” she asked.

“I’m happy if Scorpius is happy,” Albus replied easily.

Rose beamed as if he had passed some kind of test that she’d set out for him. He had no idea what that could have been. “I thought so,” she smiled. “Do you want to join us? I can introduce you to everyone.”

“I’ve got nowhere else to go,” Albus laughed and followed his cousin back to her group. 

***

It was getting late and the majority of the Gryffindors had started making their way up to the dorms. Rose was curled up in an arm chair by the fire leaning over a piece of parchment and trying to desperately find the right words to write to her mother. She’d considered writing to her Uncle Harry as well but thought better of it, choosing to address her second letter to her Aunt Ginny instead. She had no idea what was happening but she was hoping that maybe all of this could be pinned down to shock. Maybe Scorpius had panicked when he went back in time and saw everything so wrong that he was trying to stick close to everyone that might have been lost. Including her. Either way she knew she wasn’t the one that Scorpius had feelings for. She knew that his heart belonged to Albus. Rose was concerned that maybe going back in time had changed Scorpius, maybe something had gone wrong. Maybe the Scorpius that returned wasn’t the same one that left. 

Rose knew that her mother had experience with time turners, aside from being the Minister For Magic. She’d heard the stories her mother, father and Uncle Harry would tell her about their third year at Hogwarts and how they had used Hermione’s time turner to stop Voldemort for a third time. If anyone knew what could have happened to Scorpius it would be her mother, definitely. Hermione Granger-Weasley was the smartest witch of her age. She had been at Hogwarts and she still was. With the help of her mother and Aunt, Rose knew that they would get to the bottom of this. 

***

“I’ve been thinking,” Scorpius was saying. He and Albus were making their way to transfiguration at a steady pace. One of their roommates had accidently turned off the alarm, ensuring that all the boys in the dorm were almost late for all their classes that morning.    
  


“It must be a side effect of all those books you read,” Albus teased. He was a little upset when Scorpius didn’t respond to him at all, but instead stared off into the middle distance with a dopey smile on his face. Maybe Rose had been right, maybe the stress of everything that had happened that year was starting to get to him. Scorpius had changed and Albus didn’t really know why, or even how entirely. He just knew that something was wrong. Scorpius barely spoke to him anymore and he barely saw him because he was always up in the library or somewhere else. He never even told Albus where he was going anymore. He just went and left Albus with no idea how to find him. And now that Rose had pointed it out, it was starting to grain of Albus’ nerves. He was worried about his best friend. 

“I’ve been thinking,” Scorpius repeated, as if he hadn’t even said the words in the first place. “I never asked Rose when she’d like to go on that date. Maybe I should find her after class and ask her. Or I could go now.” Scorpius paused and turned as if he was going to head off intent on finding Rose. 

Albus grabbed his arm almost roughly. “Mcgonagall will kill us if we’re late to class,” he reminded. 

Scorpius shrugged, freeing himself of Albus’ hand. “It’ll be fine,” he laughed.

Albus grabbed his arm again. “We’re going to class,” he said. “You can find Rose later.”

Scorpius spun around, his expression suddenly one of anger. “Why don’t you want me to be happy, Al? You’re supposed to be my best friend.”

“What are you on about?” he asked, confused. 

Scorpius shook his head in apparent disdain and dashed off down the corridor, thankfully in the direction of their next class. 

Albus watched as he ran off, accidently bumping into a Hufflepuff third year on the way. “Rose is right,” he sighed. “Scorpius has gone crazy.” He paused momentarily, sliding off to the side of the corridor to let the other students pass. Most were on their way to their next class or heading towards the library and he didn’t want to get in their way. He thought that maybe he should go and find Rose himself but he’d rather die than face Mcgonagall’s wrath, so he continued on his way to transfiguration. 

When Albus took his normal seat in class next to Scorpius he could feel the other boy’s eyes on him. He didn’t look up at Scorpius until he’d set up his quill and parchment ready to take notes. Sometimes he wondered why Hogwarts didn’t insist on using pen instead, it was much easier. He remembered his Aunt Hermione once joking that it was solely for the wizarding aesthetic and thought that he could agree.

“Oh, hi Al,” Scorpius beamed at him as he looked over at him finally. “Where have you been? I haven’t seen you all day.”

“What? Scorpius, I was with you five minutes ago,” Albus replied, confused.

“Really? Wow, my memory must be really fading today.”

“Must be because you’re getting so old,” Albus rolled his eyes.

Scorpius laughed at that and Albus thought that almost sounded like his old laugh. He made a mental note to mention this to Rose later. 

***

Usually Albus would spend his nights much the same. He and Scorpius would seize a table in the Slytherin common room and make their way through their homework of the day for as long as they could focus on it. They would chat happily to each other about anything and everything in the way that best friends do. More often than not Scorpius would finish long before he did and always had a book ready for when this happened. Albus would joke about him losing his sight before he graduated because he read way too much. And they’d sneak glances at each other when they knew the other wasn’t looking. Lately it had been significantly different. 

Yes, they still seized their little table in the Slytherin common room and yes they would still make their way through homework but there was something strange about how they talked now. When Scorpius finished rushing through his homework, instead of pulling out a book he would take to sitting quite rigidly in his chair and leaning on the table as he stared over at Albus and talked excitedly about Rose Granger-Weasley. And maybe it was because Rose was his cousin but Albus was getting real sick of hearing it. He hadn’t even seen Rose that day so he’d written a little note to himself about what he knew he needed to tell her. 

“You really fancy her don’t you?” Albus asked, finishing his sentence before placing his quill down carefully and looking over at his best friend. 

Scorpius’ face was flushed and Albus wondered if that was because they were sitting relatively close to the fire or because of the conversation topic. “Are you jealous?” he asked. He was smirking and Albus wondered how the boy in front of him could be so like the Scorpius he knew and yet so unlike him.

“Why would I be jealous?” Albus muttered, not really wanting to think about that idea at all.

“Because your cousin always gets all the positive attention. She’s a better seeker than you and she has more friends that you do and now she has me as well. All you really have is your dad’s shadow.” It all came in a rush as if it was something that Scorpius hadn’t put much thought into. He said it so casually but it still cut deep into Albus’ heart to hear him say those things. 

Albus shook his head, upset to hear his best friend talk about him like that. “That’s hurtful,” he half-whispered.

“It’s the truth,” Scorpius shrugged, completely undisturbed. “I’ll think I’ll head up to bed,” he continued, standing up and starting to gather up all his homework.

“I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?”. It came out like a question even though Albus didn’t really intend it to.

“Yeah maybe,” Scorpius shrugged. He beamed at Albus before walking off in the direction of the dorms.

“I’m actually the better seeker in the family,” Albus muttered to himself before he started gathering up his own homework. 

***

Albus was more than grateful that it was Saturday when he woke up the next morning. He gazed around his dorm absently and noticed that all his roommates were still asleep, save for Scorpius whose bed was empty. Albus sighed and sat up looking over at his best friend’s empty bed. Scorpius was probably in the library again. Usually Albus would go and track him down just to spend some time with him but lately time with Scorpius had been nothing less than draining, and he hated that it was. 

Albus managed to get dressed and sneak out of his dorm before waking any of his roommates. It was early and there was only a few people scattered around the common room as he left. They all stared at him on his way through and it made him uneasy. Albus wished they wouldn’t, but knew that after everything that happened some people would see him differently again. His mind flicked briefly to what Scorpius had said about his father’s shadow and shook his head to try and expel the thought again, ignoring the eyes still on him as he exited the Slytherin dungeon. 

The one thing that bothered Albus about the Slytherin common room was that it seemed to be so far away from everything. He loved it dearly and it did feel like home the majority of the time but as he made his way up flight after flight of stairs he wondered why the common rooms had been placed so far away from each other. He thought briefly of some ancient wizards that needed to be separated incase fights broke out but knew that that wasn’t the case anymore. At least, not usually. Some people could get really heated about Quidditch. When Albus stopped in front of the Gryffindor Tower he was suddenly struck by just how much of a walk that had been. And it hadn’t helped that the stairs had sent him along the wrong corridors, twice. 

“Password?” the fat lady said automatically as he paused in front of her. 

“Sorry,” he muttered, “just waiting for someone.” Albus tried to ignore the way she sneered at him as she caught sight of the colour of his tie. He drew off to the side and waited, knowing that Rose would appear eventually and focused solely on what he needed to tell her. 

Since it was so early the flow of Gryffindors wasn’t all that steady but the majority of them still made the time to stare at him accusingly as they left and continued down towards the Great Hall for breakfast. Albus shifted uncomfortably every time one of them looked at him and had to remind himself that he had a right to be anywhere in the castle that he wanted to be. Just as much as they did. He was relieved when he noticed Rose appear from behind the painting, two girls flanking her. They were mid-conversation and Albus almost regretted having to interrupt. 

“Rose?” he called to get her attention, dashing over to her.

“Hi Albus,” she smiled at him. Her two friends looked at him curiously but not unfriendly in the same way that other people did. And he was grateful. 

“We need to talk,” he said as he approached her.

She nodded at him. “I’ll meet you guys in the Great Hall,” she said to her friends and took a few steps towards him as they said their goodbyes and headed off. 

“He is driving me crazy!” Albus announced, probably too loudly as he heard Rose’s two friends giggle as they went on their way.

Rose laughed at him, tugging at the sleeve of his robes until they were further away from the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. “You’re sweet, you know that,” she smiled.

Albus shook his head. “I don’t care but I think there’s something seriously wrong.”

Rose nodded, her expression turning serious again. “I think we should have this conversation over breakfast,” she muttered, sensing that it would be a long one. “I’m expecting a letter and there’s no way it can get to me up here.” 

Albus nodded and followed her as she started making her way down the staircases. “He feels different,” he muttered, making the effort to lower his voice as a few more Gryffindors moved passed them. “Talking to him is different and he acts different and I don’t know what’s wrong or how I can help him.”

“You’re worried,” Rose replied simply. “I am too,” she added.

They walked in silence until they reached the Great Hall. Rose waved to her friends and then made some kind of hand gesture to Albus as if to say “I’m going to sit with my cousin,” and they all smiled and nodded. She was grateful that they didn’t question it. She’d made friends with the right people. 

Rose followed Albus and sat next to him at the Slytherin table. “It feels weird sitting over here,” she laughed.

“Traitor,” Albus smirked in response as he started grabbing some food. 

Rose rolled her eyes and followed suit. “I feel like I never really apologised for how I treated you,” she said, picking absently at her food and pointedly not looking at him. “I am sorry about that.”

“I know,” he shrugged. “Water under the bridge, don’t worry.”

“Thank you,” Rose smiled at him. “If it makes you feel any better, you’re my favourite cousin,” she laughed, nudging him gently with her elbow.

“Flattery won’t get you anywhere,” he rolled his eyes, smirking. Albus reached into his robes and pulled out a piece of parchment, setting it on the table in front of them between their plates. “I made a list of all the weird things that Scorpius has been doing, just so I didn’t forget anything.”

“That’s actually really smart,” she praised.

“You sound surprised.”

“Scorpius was always the brains in your partnership,” she teased. 

An owl flew down from the rafters, landing gently on the table in front of Rose, two letters tied to it’s leg. Rose smiled and gently untied the letters. She gave the owl a gentle pat on the head before it flew off to rejoin the others again. 

“Two letters?” Albus questioned, noticing the Ministry of Magic seal on one of the envelopes.

“One from my mum, and one from yours,” she shrugged.

“That’s nice of them.” 

“I told them about Scorpius. I thought that maybe they could help. My mum knows a lot about time turners and your mum knows a lot about you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked. 

Rose laughed again, using a butter knife to break open the envelope from her mother. “She’s friendly enough with Draco Malfoy to ask him if he’s noticed anything strange. It would have been weird if I sent a letter to him directly.”

“So you just got my mum to do your bidding for you?” he questioned.

“Do you want to know what’s wrong with Scorpius or not?” she asked, meeting his eyes for a moment. 

Albus nodded wordlessly and watched as she pulled the letter out of its envelope gently. 

Rose placed the letter on the table without reading it and instead looked up at Albus again. “First tell me what’s on this list of yours,” she said.

“Right,” Albus shuffled, reading over his list to make sure he hadn’t forgotten anything. “Scorp talks about you all the time. And not in the way that people usually talk about someone they fancy. In a really obsessive way. It’s kind of scary and it’s starting to get annoying -”

Rose laughed, bringing a hand to her mouth in apology. “I’m sorry,” she smiled, “continue.”

“Sometimes he starts sentences and then stops talking. And then he repeats what he was saying like he hasn’t said anything at all.”

“That’s really strange,” she mused.

“It gets worse. Yesterday I was walking to transfiguration with him and then he got angry me for seemingly no reason and rushed off to class. When I got there he told me he hadn’t seen me all day but I was with him five minutes before that,” Albus explained, pausing. 

“So his memory is terrible,” Rose muttered, seemingly taking all of this in. 

“It wasn’t like that before,” Albus confirmed.

Rose shook her head and looked over at the letters sitting on the table. “I’ll have to write again with the new information.” 

“I barely see him anymore and when I do he doesn’t feel like himself. At least, not the Scorpius that I know.”

Rose sighed and looked up at Albus, saw the helplessness in his eyes. She was determined to help the two of them. She knew how much they meant to each other and if there was one thing her parents had passed down to her it was a fierce protectiveness of her family (and friends by extension). “You miss him,” she replied simply.

“I miss my best friend.”

Rose patted his shoulder, hoping that it would be of some comfort. Her free hand picked up the letter again. “Let’s see what my mum has to say and then I’ll write to her again.”

“Maybe I should write to my mum this time,” Albus muttered.

“I’m better with words than you,” she smirked. 

“You sound like Scorpius,” he whispered.

“What?” Rose asked, looking up at him shocked. “I’m just teasing,” she said.

“I know you are but he wasn’t,” Albus sighed. He looked down at his list and realised what he’d forgotten to add. “He accused me of being jealous. He was talking about you and I asked him to stop and he accused me of being jealous because you’re better than me at everything.”

“That doesn’t sound like Scorpius at all,” she muttered.

Albus looked up and realised that there was pity in her eyes. If there was anything that Albus was sick of it was seeing other people pitying him. “It was hurtful but what hurts more is knowing that he’s right.”

“Don’t say that. Don’t you dare. It wasn’t his words, Albus. We’re going to figure out what’s wrong and we’re going to help him.” 

Albus nodded but looked down at the table instead of at her. 

“I promise you that we can work this out all out. You’ll have your best friend back before you know it.”

Albus smiled faintly because sometimes he forgot just how much like her mother Rose was. And not just by appearance. She had the same determination that was prominent in all of his dad’s stories. He was grateful that he had such a great cousin to figure this out with. Without her who knows what could have happened? 

…

“Don’t you have a quidditch match coming up?” Scorpius asked. He was curled up in an arm chair his finished homework lying in front of him on the table and a book in his lap - though Albus noticed that he hadn’t been actually reading it and had been staring at the same page for longer than necessary. 

Albus looked up from the potions essay he was writing and gazed over at the boy who was supposed to be his best friend. He thought that with everyday that passed the person in front of him resembled Scorpius less and less. “Yeah I do. We’re against Hufflepuff,” he replied. 

“Do you think Rose will be going?”

Albus sighed, he should have known where that question that been leading to. “She usually goes if she’s not playing,” he muttered. “I think she evaluates the competition.” 

“Maybe I could ask if she wanted to go with me. I mean, at least that would give her a real reason to be there.”

“I think she mentioned earlier this week that she was going to support me,” there was an edge to his voice that he didn’t entirely mean to be there, but it seemed to go over Scorpius’ head anyway.

Scorpius shrugged, offhandedly. “Statement still stands.” 

“You know, you’ve been awfully cruel to me lately,” Albus challenged. 

“What do you mean? I haven’t seen you all week.”

“Scorp, you saw me yesterday,” he muttered. Albus watched as confusion spread across Scorpius’ face and made another mental note to mention this to Rose.

“I must have forgotten,” he said, a smile on his face that didn’t look natural. “I think I’ll head up to bed now anyway.”

“Bye Scorp,” Albus sighed, as Scorpius collected up all the his books and stood up to leave. “I’m losing him,” he whispered to himself in his best friend’s absence. 

***

“His memory is getting worse,” Albus said. He was walking through the corridors with Rose who fortunately happened to have a free period at the same time that he did. “He keeps saying he’s forgotten things even if only a day has passed.”

“I’ll have to write another letter to mum,” Rose replied. “I think this is a lot more serious than we thought it would be.”

“I feel like I’m losing him,” Albus admitted. “Every day that passes he pulls further and further away from me. It’s like he’s not even himself anymore.”

Rose looked at him apologetically, patted his shoulder in comfort. “Al, I’m sorry,” she said.

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” he muttered. “I’m sure that somehow this is my fault.”

“I don’t want you to think like that.” 

Albus shook his head and looked over at his cousin. “What if the real Scorpius is lost somewhere in time? If no more time turners exist how are we supposed to get him back?”

“I’ll write to mum, she’ll think of something.”

“I miss him,” Albus whispered. 

“I know. We’ll work this out. I promise.”

“Oh, Scorp wants to take you to the quidditch game tomorrow. I told him I’d mention it to you if I saw you,” he muttered, not looking at her and instead watching some of the paintings absently.

Rose sighed. “I guess we had to go on that date eventually.”

“No this isn’t the date. He still hasn’t planned what that is yet. He just wants to see you.”

“I guess I should be flattered but under the circumstances I think I’m just concerned,” she admitted.

Albus shrugged. “He said it would give you a reason to be there.”

“As if supporting my cousin isn’t enough,” she smirked.

“He’s been awfully cruel about that lately.”

“After the quidditch game come to Hogsmeade with me. Some of my friends are going but I can introduce you. I think you’d like them anyway,” Rose offered.

“I’d like that,” Albus smiled.

“Then it’s settled. I’ll go to the game with Scorpius and then we’ll buy you a whole bunch of sweets and see if you can forget all your worries.”

He laughed at that. “I’ll try my best,” he smirked

“Just make sure you win the game,” she smiled.

“Hey, my father was the youngest seeker in a century. Quidditch is in my blood.”

Rose rolled her eyes at him. “Don’t get ahead of yourself.” 

***

“I saw Rose today,” Albus said as a greeting. He knew that the name would make Scorpius perk up and wasn’t surprised when he did just that, a smile forming on his face.

“Lovely isn’t she,” he replied as Albus took the seat across from him. 

“Guess so,” Albus shrugged.

“Did she say anything about me?”

Albus looked up and saw the glazed look in Scorpius’ eyes. He wondered if that’s what people were supposed to look like when they fancied someone. He’d never really seen anything like it before. He made a mental note to mention it to Rose anyway, because she would know better with that topic. “I told her you wanted to go to the quidditch game with her.” 

“And?” Scorpius leaned forward, looking like an excited child who was about to learn he was going to Disneyland.

“She said she’d go with you,” Albus shrugged, trying not to looking at Scorpius because he knew that he would be beaming that 1000-watt smile that somehow wasn’t his own. 

“That’s great!”

***

Rose was watching as some of her friends played a game of wizard chess. She knew it was one of her father’s favourite games and he’d taught her how to play when she was little, much to her mother’s dismay. She’d been trying over the last week to figure out what the hell she was going to do about the Scorpius situation. Albus was becoming more and more distressed with each passing day and she was genuinely concerned that if something terrible was happening to Scorpius and they waited that it would be too late when they figured it all out. She’d sent her mother an owl every time that Albus had given her some new kind of update on Scorpius’ condition and that morning she had finally received another answer. Rose hadn’t expected one right away, with Hermione being the Minister for Magic she knew that there were a lot of bigger priorities at the moment. 

Rose had also received one other letter that she hadn’t opened yet. It was hidden within her robes and she was waiting until all her friends went up to bed. The letter probably should have been shared with Albus but somehow she knew that she needed to check what was inside first. As a precaution. The letter had a seal that Rose recognised as the same one that resided on the back of the letters Albus received from Scorpius over the summer. It was an image of Malfoy Manor. 

One by one her Gryffindor companions made their way up to their dorm rooms and Rose moved so that she was settled by the fire in an armchair. It was getting late and there weren’t many students left in the common room, just the odd seventh years struggling through an essay of some sort. Rose pulled the letter gently out from under her robes and used the tip of her quill to open the envelope neatly. She unfolded the parchment and smoothed it easily against the table. She shouldn’t have been so surprised at how neat the handwriting was. 

_ Miss Granger-Weasley, _

_ I’ve been receiving correspondence from your mother and aunt explaining that you think something has happened to my son. They haven’t gone into much detail so I thought that I should owl you myself. If there is anything that you think I can assist with, please don’t hesitate to let me know. I know this year has been hard on you all.  _

_ Sincerely,  _

_ Draco Malfoy _

The last of the students in the Gryffindor common room started making their way up to the dorms. They looked at her strangely and she realised that it must be incredibly late by now. And she had a quidditch game to attend tomorrow. Rose knew that this was something that couldn’t wait and she almost regretted having kept the letter sealed for so long. She set up her quill and a new sheet of parchment and starting writing a letter that she addressed to Mr. Malfoy. Within it she stated all the strange things that Albus had noted to her: the lost memory, the mood swings and the glazed eyes. The last one was something new that Albus had only told her that day. He’d come rushing up to the Gryffindor tower and had just managed to catch her before she replied to the fat lady’s question of the password. Rose signed the letter and gave it a once over, satisfied that she managed to keep her handwriting as neat as she could. She folded the parchment up neatly and slid it into a spare envelope. It was too late now to bother the owls so she would have to wait until the morning to send it, but she was grateful that this somehow felt like progress. 

***

The next morning Albus and Rose had come to the decision to meet directly in the Great Hall for breakfast, which saved Albus making his way up a million staircases to get to the Gryffindor Tower. Since he had a quidditch game that he needed to save his strength for, he was grateful. When Rose made her way over to sit next to him at the Slytherin table he tried to ignore the looks of disgust that he received from other students in the room. There was never a problem when other kids mixed houses, it was always just him. And he hated it. 

“Morning Al,” Rose smiled, taking a seat next to him and glaring at a few Ravenclaws that still had their eyes on the two of them. “You’d think these people would learn to get over it by now,” she added.

Albus handed her a cup of coffee that she accepted, grateful. “You’d think I would be used to it by now,” he muttered, “but I don’t think I ever will be.”

“I’m sorry,” she apologised. “Are you ready for the big game?”

He shook his head. “I haven’t really put much thought into quidditch lately. I’m sort of worried that I’ll be too distracted to play anywhere near my best.”

“Well, it’s like you said. Quidditch is in your blood,” she teased.

Albus shook his head, a smile making its way onto his face. “That does sound awfully snobbish doesn’t it?”

“It’s the truth,” she smiled. “If it makes you feel any better I’ll be cheering for you the whole time.”

“I hope you enjoy Scorp making heart eyes at you the entire time,” he muttered, a certain edge to his voice.

“You know, Al, the jealousy matches your tie,” Rose smirked. 

“What do you mean?” he muttered.

Rose shook her head at how clueless he was. She knew that he was the only person who wanted to be on the receiving end of any kind of affection from Scorpius. And he definitely was the rightful person. Hopefully when the two of them figured all this out she could make sure that Albus and Scorpius finally admitted their feelings for each other. It had been way too long already. “Doesn’t matter,” she laughed.

“I hope we win today,” Albus replied, distractedly. 

“You will. I really don’t want to face Hufflepuff in my next game, no matter how lovely they are.” 

“It doesn’t feel right to crush their quidditch dreams does it?” he laughed. 

“At least it won’t be until after winter break,” she shrugged.

“I almost forgot about that.”

“Al, it’s been snowing for about a week straight,” she smirked.

“I guess I’ve been so distracted by everything that’s happened,” he shrugged.

“I can’t blame you.” 

The two of them looked up as Scorpius sat down on the other side of the table to them. His eyes still looked glazed over and were focused solely on Rose, not even glancing over to Albus at all. He reached across the table and took one of Rose’s hands in his. Rose stared over at him in shock but he didn’t seem to notice. He just beamed at her. Albus felt sick.

“Hi Rose,” he smiled.

“Hi Scorpius,” she replied, trying to return his smile regardless of how uncomfortable she was. She could feel eyes on the two of them and could almost hear the whispers racking through the Great Hall. 

“Are you doing anything after the game today?” he asked her.

“I actually have some plans to go to Hogsmeade with some friends, but you can come if you like?” she suggested.

Somehow his smile managed to grow even more. “I’d like that,” he said, “see you at the game.” And then he let go of her hand and disappeared as quickly as he came. 

“Who the bloody hell was that?” Rose muttered.

“He didn’t even look at me,” Albus replied quietly.

Rose looked over at her cousin and saw just how upset he was. Upset and somehow angry because his hand was clenched into a fist on the table and she was sure he didn’t even realise it. She placed her hand on top of his gently. “Think of it as research,” she suggested. “We’ll see how he interacts being around me and other people and see if anything changes.”

“He’ll probably just stare at you the whole time,” he pulled his hand from under hers, twisting them in his lap instead. 

“I know this upsets you. I’m sorry that I invited him but I know you miss him and maybe he’ll pay as much attention to you as well.”

“I doubt it,” Albus sighed. “Don’t be surprised if he stares.”

“I hope he doesn’t because that would be incredibly creepy,” Rose laughed.

“I miss him,” Albus said before he could stop himself, almost cringing at the words.

“I know. I received a letter from Draco Malfoy,” she said.

Albus looked up at her, confused. “What do you mean?”

Rose pulled the letter out from her under her robes, opening it and showing it to Albus. “I wrote back detailing all the strange things that have been happening. I think he might know his son better than any of us.”

“I hope so,” he replied, reading over the letter.

***

Albus wasn’t usually nervous before a quidditch match. He was usually confident enough, or at least hopeful, that they would win. The teams got better and better every year and this year was no different, Hufflepuff was a good match for them. But there were so many thoughts and worries running through his head that he knew it would be hard enough to concentrate on the match itself. The team captain gave a pep talk that he was sure he’d heard a thousand times before and then they were out on the field. The crowd was cheering loudly as Madam Hooch threw the quaffle to one of the Hufflepuff players. Once in the air, Albus caught sight of Rose. She and Scorpius were seated in the Slytherin stands and her red scarf was easy to spot amongst the sea of green. He waved to her and she beamed at him, cheering loudly. Somehow that made him feel a little better, even if his best friend wouldn’t even look at him. Scorpius’ eyes were instead switching between Rose and the quidditch pitch, seeming to roam over every player except Albus. Albus gave Rose a thumbs up and could almost hear her laugh before Madam Hooch blew her whistle. 

The game was incredibly tight matched and without someone catching the snitch it could really go either way. It was definitely too close to call and Albus felt a fire of determination settle inside him. He’d been keeping an eye out but somehow the snitch was yet to be found. Overall both teams were playing the best they had all season. Albus could guess that it was because it was the last game before winter break. He made the mistake of looking down at his cousin and best friend. Rose’s eyes were watching as the quaffle moved back and forth between the players. He could see the calculation in her eyes as if she was saving all of this into some special ‘how to win quidditch’ data base in her brain. Scorpius was talking to her, his eyes never leaving her face. Albus was reminded again of the sickness he had felt that morning. He was so distracted that he missed the bludger heading straight for him. There was a shocked yell among the crowd and a beater’s bat came into contact with the bludger. Albus was snapped into reality and was shocked when he realised he could have been seriously injured if his team weren’t as good as they were.

“Careful, mate,” his teammate said to him, a smirk on his face as if he’d seen where Albus had been looking. Albus realized that he probably had and told himself to avoid looking at the stands for the rest of the game.

“Sorry,” he apologized automatically before his eyes flicked back onto the game at hand. 

The score kept fluctuating and the crowd were eagerly awaiting the appearance of the snitch. Albus’ eyes scanned the pitch and when he finally saw a streak of gold he shot towards it. In his peripheral vision he could see the Hufflepuff seeker not far from him and tried to propel himself forward even more. He thought of everything that had been happening that year and used all his anger and frustration to push himself even more than he usually would. The snitch was almost in his grasp and he reached a hand towards it. He could hear the crowd roaring around him and tried to reach out as far as his arm could. The Hufflepuff seeker was beside him doing the same. Albus knew that he could win this. Knew that he needed to. His hand managed to clasp the snitch and he pulled to a stop just before he was about to hit the stands themselves. 

“Albus Potter has caught the snitch! Slytherin wins!” he heard the announcer call. The crowd was deafening and Albus landed before being surrounded by the rest of his excited teammates. 

He saw Rose rush out onto the pitch and caught her in a hug, laughing. “I can’t wait to kick your arse after Christmas,” she said to him before pulling away.

“You’re on!” Albus could see Scorpius standing behind her and he was actually looking at Albus and his smile was almost entirely his and when Rose pulled away Scorpius threw his arms around him and hugged him. Albus’ breath caught in his throat because maybe somehow a silly game of quidditch had broken whatever spell was put over him.

“Al, you were amazing,” Scorpius said in his ear. 

_ “Do we do this? Do we hug now?” _

Albus didn’t say anything in return, just clinged to him for probably too long before Scorpius pulled away. After pulling away Scorpius looked at Rose with that dopey smile and somehow the moment was broken. Suddenly Albus felt incredibly cold, and it wasn’t because of the wind whipping around them.  _ I miss you _ , he thought. 

“Ready to head to Hogsmeade?” Rose asked as a distraction. She could see how hurt Albus was, the boy was an open book. 

Albus nodded and walked beside her quietly as he listened to Scorpius chat about how close the game was and how the Slytherin team could strengthen their defence. 

“I’m sorry,” Rose whispered to him, even though she knew that Scorpius probably wouldn’t notice if she spoke.

“For a second I thought that everything was ok,” Albus replied, shrugging. 

Rose placed a hand on his shoulder apologetically, hoping that it might be of some comfort. 

***

Rose had kept her promise about buying out Honeydukes to try and make her cousin feel better. She blew what Albus was sure was the majority of her allowance on his favourite sweets and though he was flattered and felt a little guilty there was a little voice in the back of his head that somehow made the thought of eating them all almost sickening.

_ “Sweets are the best way to make new friends.”  _

Eventually their little group, which consisted of Rose, Albus, Scorpius and three other girls - two Gryffindor and one Hufflepuff - made their way to The Three Broomsticks for a congratulatory butterbeer. Albus sat quietly as the rest of the group talked excitedly about whatever came to their mind - from quidditch to class to Christmas, every topic really. Scorpius didn’t so much as look at him and he wondered if he’d done something to upset him or if somehow the state he was in was triggered by something he’d done. There was only a week left of classes before winter break and the thought was starting to make him feel uneasy. He just didn’t feel all that Christmasy anymore. Maybe that was something that happened when you were forced to grow up too early. At least, that was the conclusion he was coming to. But as he watched as Scorpius talked excitedly with Rose and her friends, gazing over at Rose lovingly every few seconds he wondered if maybe the ways things were now were somehow the way they were supposed to be. Really he just wanted to disappear. 

“It must be hard,” the Hufflepuff girl sitting next to him whispered. Even though Rose had introduced them all he couldn’t remember her first name, just that her last name was Finnegan-Thomas which told him she was the daughter of two his father’s old friends. 

“What do you mean?” he asked, not sure what she was referring to. 

“To see someone you love look at someone else like that,” she indicated Scorpius subtly, even though he probably wouldn’t have noticed anyway.

“Oh,” Albus muttered. He didn’t really know what to say to that. Of course he loved Scorpius, he was his best friend. It didn’t even matter when his stomach twisted in knots very time he saw him look over at Rose. He was starting to think that Scorpius might have been better off without him, no matter how hurtful that thought was.

“Sorry,” the girl smiled faintly. “I just … I saw the way you were looking at him and I just assumed.”

Albus looked over at her, confused.

She laughed quietly, as if the conversation they were having was some sort of secret and Albus was grateful for that. “Maybe you don’t realize it yourself yet but every time you look at him you look so sad. As if you somehow wished you were in Rose’s place.”

Albus looked down quietly. “I guess a part of me wishes I was,” he admitted.

“If it’s any consolation. I don’t think Rose really likes him in that way,” she replied.

“Oh I know she doesn’t. We’re all just stuck in this awkward situation,” he shrugged. 

“I hope it all works out soon.”

“I hope so too.” Albus looked up only to see that Scorpius was gazing at Rose again. So he looked promptly back down into the empty glass of his butterbeer that he’d been holding onto for dear life. He wondered briefly how he hadn’t broken it yet. 

***

Albus looked around him at the now empty dorm room. Everyone’s things were already being packed onto the Hogwarts express. A tree had been placed in the common room downstairs by some mysterious house elves even though no one in Slytherin was staying at Hogwarts over the next two weeks. He thought that maybe it was supposed to boost their mood and make them feel like Christmas was near but really it just made Albus feel miserable. Hogwarts in general lately had made him feel miserable and he was almost glad to be going home, even if it was just for two weeks. 

Once he’d made it onto the platform he looked around him at all the happy students. Everyone around him seemed so excited for Christmas and presents and their families and whatever else the holiday season would bring for them. Albus caught sight of Scorpius’ blonde hair in the crowd and started walking towards him out of habit. When he saw that his best friend was standing next to Rose, he paused unsure what to do. Scorpius looked up at him and caught his eye, obviously having felt Albus’ eyes on him. He smiled when they locked eyes and Albus could tell even from this far away that it was a real smile. Scorpius started walking towards him and Albus thought that he must have been dreaming. Maybe he had died during everything that happened with the time turner and this was somehow his personal hell. It felt like torture. 

“Al!” Scorpius beamed once he reached him, pulling him into a hug. Albus hugged back and looked over Scorpius’ shoulder at Rose who just shrugged, as unsure as he was at Scorpius’ sudden change in mood. The one thing they both knew though, is that this certainly wouldn’t last. “Are you excited for Christmas?” Scorpius asked, pulling away. 

“It’ll be nice to be home for a bit,” Albus replied. 

“Where have you been, by the way, we’ve all been waiting for you get here. If there’s no empty compartments left on the train I’m blaming you.”

“I take full responsibility.”

Scorpius laughed and it sounded so genuine that it sent shock waves through Albus’ entire body. “Come on, you idiot. We have to get on the train,” Scorpius pulled on the sleeve of his robes the two of them reached the others before they all piled onto the train together. 

Albus could barely breathe as he watched as everyone talked excitedly about the holiday season and teased each other about what presents they were getting. He wanted to stop time entirely because this was the first time in so long that Scorpius was acting really and truly like himself. And if he didn’t take his eyes off his best friend for the majority of the train ride then he couldn’t really be held accountable could he?

When the train pulled up at King’s Cross Station everyone started gathering their bags. Rose hugged her friends goodbye and they all exited the compartment. Albus hesitated, not entirely ready to face the world again regardless of how much he needed to be away from Hogwarts. He felt Rose’s hand on his shoulder and turned to look at her. 

“Careful Al, you’re tearing up. There’s no need to look like this train is the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen,” she teased.

Albus stared in the direction that Scorpius had disappeared in a moment before. “It just felt he was really here, you know.”

“I know. And now all my friends probably think that staring at your best friend is your favourite thing to do,” she smirked.

“Was it that bad?”

“Al, your eyes barely left him the whole trip,” she laughed.

Albus sighed and picked up his bag. 

“You two coming or not?” Scorpius stuck his head back through the door.

“We’re coming,” Rose replied, she tugged gently on her cousin’s sleeve until he decided to follow her. 

Albus had never been so relieved to see his family in his life. James was already off the train and standing between his father and his uncle. Ron seemed to be talking to him about Uncle George’s shop and the few new candies that had been released in his absence. He watched as Lily ran at their mother who managed to catch her in a hug before passing her to their father as well. She seemed to be chatting excitedly about her year. Rose ran to hug her mother and father the second she was sure that Albus would be able to make the rest of the walk back to their families of his own accord. Hugo seemed to appear out of nowhere and half jumped onto his father. Albus managed to smile back at his family's bright ones when they saw him approach them. He said hi to everyone and let his mother hug him and ruffle his hair. Albus turned to his father and only looked at him for a moment before practically throwing himself at him. 

“You ok, Al?” Harry asked quietly when he didn’t let go.

“Long story,” Albus muttered. “Might tell you later.”

“If you’d like to then I’ll listen,” he replied easily. 

Albus pulled away, suddenly aware that he was tearing up again. “I missed you all,” he said, looking around at his family as if crying was somehow normal for this. He was grateful that no one commented, probably pinning it down to the ordeal he’d been through that year. They must have all thought that the ordeal was over, but to him it was never ending. For him it had only just begun. 

***

Albus woke up the next morning to the sharp sound of an alarm. He felt that it was way too cruel a wake up call for anyone and he reached over to slam down on the alarm clock violently in an attempt to make the sound stop.

“Scorp, did you forget to turn the alarm off again?” he groaned into the silence, momentarily forgetting where he was and what had happened over the last month or so. Albus shot up in his bed when he didn’t receive a response and gazed around him, blinking away the sleep in his eyes. He was in his bedroom. He was was home for the holidays. Scorpius wasn’t here. Oh. He could hear the shuffling of feet coming from the other side of the door that told him that Lily was up. She was probably harassing their parents about what she was going to get for Christmas. They never gave in but she tried her luck every year without fail. Albus rubbed his eyes and realised that he probably wouldn’t make it back to sleep anyway, so he might as well get up. 

As lovely as it was to head to the Great Hall for breakfast every morning nothing would ever beat the smell of his dad’s cooking as he made his way to the kitchen. James was already at the table with Lily sitting on his lap comfortably and talking excitedly about all her classes that year. Harry was listening happily as he cooked some pancakes. As Albus took his seat at the table James slid that day’s  _ Daily Prophet _ over to him easily. Albus looked down at it briefly and as nothing caught his interest he promptly pushed it back over to James, shrugging. Ginny came into the kitchen and wrapped her arms around her husband’s waist, resting her head on his shoulder. 

“Morning,” she smiled, kissing Harry’s cheek. 

“Mum! That’s gross!” Lily protested. 

Albus didn’t say anything he just gazed around at his family. He was starting to realise that he should have been happier about all of this but somehow his thoughts weren’t able to leave Scorpius and how worried Albus was about his best friend. 

“You ok, Al?” James asked, shifting Lily on his lap so that he could lean towards his brother.

“Hmm? Oh yeah, I’m fine,” Albus tried to smile.

James didn’t look convinced. “If you need to talk about anything, you know where to find me.”

“Thanks.” Albus looked up to see both his parents looking down at him worriedly, Harry’s eyes flicking between him and Lily who was still talking. 

The doorbell rang and Ginny rushed to answer it. She beamed when she saw Hermione, Ron, Rose and Hugo on the other side. In the lead up to the holidays season Hermione and Harry had some work things to go over and the best way to go about discussing them was allowing everyone over. That way the kids could almost distract each other while the two of them figured out how they were going to solve their most dangerous cases and issues of the season. 

Even though Harry made extra pancakes it wasn’t long until all nine of them had eaten their share and went off to do separate things.  Albus and Rose had taken the floor beside the fireplace in the lounge room. They didn’t mind the cold weather but it was always nice to be by a fireplace. Almost like they were still back in their respective common rooms at Hogwarts. Hugo was hassling James and Lily and trying to convince them to teach him some more muggle card games. Hermione and Harry had disappeared into another room and Ron was helping Ginny clean up in the kitchen. 

“Al, you look terrible,” Rose half-whispered, not wanting to draw too much attention from the others in the room. Even though Hugo’s loud voice would drown them out anyway. 

“Didn’t sleep well,” he replied.

“Still worried about Scorpius.” It wasn’t a question, Rose just knew the answer. She could see it in her cousin’s eyes.

“I can’t stop thinking about him,” Albus admitted.

Rose was grateful that he was staring down at his lap because he missed the smirk that spread across her face. “I’m sure this’ll all work out,” she smiled. “If it makes you feel any better, mum’s considering inviting the Malfoys to Christmas this year.”

“I’m not sure if that makes me feel better or worse.”

“It’s just the two of them now so I think it would be nice,” Rose shrugged.

“If not completely weird,” Albus laughed.

“Maybe being home for the holidays will help Scorpius be himself again.”

“I hope so.”

***

Christmas for the Potters and the Granger-Weasleys had always been a large affair. With such a big family it was completely unavoidable. Ginny always decked out the entire house with Christmas decorations. It had been a tradition when she was little that she would help her mum do the same and so when she and Harry had moved into a place of their own it just so happened to continue on. They all helped put up the tree. And even though Albus’ heart wasn’t truly in it he played along for the sake of his family. He even helped James wrap the red tinsel around the tree. He laughed when his father wrapped some green tinsel around as well and said that their tree had to reflect their whole family. Lily was incredibly excited about being able to put the star of the top of the tree and wouldn’t shut up about it for the rest of the day. Albus helped his father wrap up all the Christmas presents and told him about the tree in the Slytherin common room. Even though Harry could sense that his son wasn’t entirely feeling the Christmas spirit he was glad to see him trying. 

When the Granger-Weasleys arrived on the evening of Christmas Eve for dinner the Christmas feeling seemed to be finally set in. They carried in the presents that they had for the Potters and placed them under the tree. Albus gave his aunt and uncle a hug and ruffled Hugo’s hair because knew that it would annoy him. While the others melted into the rest of the house Rose and Albus stood standing in the doorway for a few moments. Rose threw her arms around him and pulled him into a hug. She could sense how sad he was and couldn’t remember him ever feeling like that during Christmas.

“Have you heard from Scorpius?” Albus asked quietly as he pulled away.

“No. Not even one letter,” she replied, worry lacing her tone.

“He usually writes but this time he hasn’t,” he muttered. Usually whenever they weren’t at Hogwarts they would write each other every day that they could. 

“You’re worried,” Rose stated.

“What if there’s really something very wrong? I have no way of knowing if I can’t speak to him,” Albus looked away from her, down at the ground instead.

“I did mention that Scorpius and his father were invited tonight didn’t I?” Rose questioned.

“You did,” he confirmed.

“Then maybe everything will turn out ok.” 

“There’s no use you two standing in the doorway is there?” Ginny smiled at the two of them before ushering them in with the rest of the family. 

It wasn’t long before Draco and Scorpius appeared. They apparated there shortly after the Granger-Weasleys had arrived. Draco had bought a small gift as a thank you for being invited and handing it to Ginny on the way in. She smiled at him and told him that he didn’t have to bring anything but he insisted. She ushered the two of them to join the rest of the family. Draco joined the conversation Ron and Hermione were having, seemingly about how the quidditch season had played out this year, while Scorpius made his way over to James, Lily and Hugo and watched intently as they played a few muggle card games. Albus didn’t know what he had really expected but he wished that Scorpius had come to sit with him and Rose instead, even if it was just to stare at her. 

“It’s like we’re not even here,” Rose whispered.

“Do you think I’ve done something wrong?” Albus replied quietly, not wanting to bring any attention to the two of them.

Rose shook her head seriously. “No, Al. None of this could ever be your fault. Whatever’s happening we’ll just have to work it out as we go.”

“I miss him.”

Rose placed a hand on her cousin’s shoulder as Harry announced that dinner was ready. “I know. It’ll be ok. I promise.”

The Potters, Granger-Weasleys and the last two Malfoys all gathered around the table for an incredibly elaborate Christmas Eve dinner. There were a million compliments made to the chef that Harry easily shook off with a winning smile and mutters about it being nothing as cooking was one of his favourite hobbies. Albus stayed quiet as he listened to everyone around him talk about anything and everything. He kept sneaking glances at Scorpius, who had remained next to James for reasons that he didn’t want to think about. He seemed to be happy, at least as happy as he could be with that glazed look still in his eyes. Albus wondered briefly if that was there even when Scorpius was at home. He’d been hoping for the best but nothing ever seemed to turn out the way he needed it to anymore. 

“I’ve been keeping an eye on him,” a voice said to him.

Abus looked up to see Draco Malfoy staring down at him patiently, as if he knew that it would take a while for the words to settle into Albus’ worried and overtired brain. “Have you?” he asked stupidly. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Rose, who was sitting to his left look up at Draco as well. 

“You two are right to be concerned,” he continued.

“I’m glad you think that,” Albus muttered.

Rose nudged him forcefully with her elbow and he tried not to cringe. 

“I’m sorry, Mr. Malfoy. I haven’t been in the best mindset of late,” he apologised.

“I understand,” Draco replied. 

“Have you noticed anything drastically different about him?” Rose asked, trying to gather as much information as she could.

Draco nodded. “He’s distant and very unlike himself. I’ve barely seen him read since he returned and usually that’s all he does when he’s at home.”

“Does he looked dazed like that even at home?” Rose pressed, asking the question that had been on Albus’ mind all evening. 

“Yes.”

“Do you have any idea what it’s caused by?”

“I wish I did,” he sighed. “It hasn’t been easy for him. Not just in the last year but losing his mother and the way he was treated at Hogwarts didn’t help.”

“I’m sorry,” Albus said, because he thought that was all he could say. Scorpius had been through more in his short lifetime than any one person should. And Albus felt incredibly guilty for it every day, especially lately. He just wished he could have done more to help his best friend.

“It’s clear that you two care about him very deeply,” Draco mused, his eyes lingering on Albus a moment longer than they should have - not that he noticed because he was gazing down at his half-empty plate. “I’m grateful that he at least has the two of you.”

“We just wish we could do more to help,” Rose replied. Albus was reminded of the time she claimed she was better with words than he was. He shouldn’t have been surprised that she was right. 

***

After dinner everyone retreated into the lounge room again. Somehow they all managed to fit even though the room wasn’t accustomed to having so many people in it. Albus and Rose retained their place at the fire. Their parents and Draco taking up the two couches and talking in quiet, serious voices. Albus would know it was about him, Rose and Scorpius even if they weren’t glancing over quickly every few minutes. James, Lily and Hugo were seemingly going through the Potter’s muggle movie collection, trying to see if they could find something relatively Christmasy to watch. Scorpius had taken to sitting on the edge of the fireplace next to Rose and talking to her. Mostly it was about quidditch but sometimes it was about other things as well. It seemed to be whatever popped into Scorpius’ delusioned mind. He didn’t even look at Albus once, even though Rose did quite frequently to check on her cousin. Albus took to staring down at his lap and wishing for it all to end. He felt like he was dying. 

By the time James, Lily and Hugo had decided on a film it was already starting to get quite late. The Malfoys left first, Draco thanking Harry and Ginny almost profusely for inviting him which was a little strange but not unwelcome. Scorpius gave Rose a hug and Albus thought that he saw him glance over at him for the briefest second but maybe that was just wishful thinking. The second the door closed behind the two of them Albus somehow found himself feeling even worse. He could feel Rose’s hand on his shoulder but all he could see was Scorpius and how unlike himself he had been. 

“Albus,” Rose said gently, trying to prompt his attention.

“It’s not going to be ok, is it?” he looked up at her. “We’re lying to ourselves.”

She shook her head determinedly. “It’s going to be ok. Maybe it’ll take a while but it will be.”

“I don’t think I can keep kidding myself like this,” he whispered. His heart was broken, that much he knew. It was broken and he was sure it would stay like that forever. 

Rose pulled her cousin into a hug and tried to ignore the small sniffle that came from him and the fact that he was shaking. This was hard for the both of them but she knew it would never be as hard for her as it was for Albus. 

“Rose?” Hermione asked, prompting the two of them to pull away from each other. 

Albus sniffled again and wiped at his eyes, almost frustrated because he couldn’t let himself cry on Christmas Eve. 

“Can we talk to you two in the kitchen for a moment?”

Rose nodded and tugged on Albus’ sleeve to help him move. She knew he would probably just crumble right there if given the chance. 

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny were all sitting around the small table in the kitchen. Rose and Albus took their seats as well. Albus didn’t look up at anyone. He folded his hands on the table and forced his eyes to stay focused on them. He could feel himself tearing up again and he didn’t want anyone to notice. Rose had her arm around him and her hand was resting on his shoulder gently. The two of them had established that it was a comforting gesture. Five pairs of eyes looked at Albus with pity and worry, two things that he was accustomed to seeing reflected and the reason that he was looking down with such vigor. 

“There are moments of clarity,” Rose started, knowing that the reason this conversation was going to happen was because of Scorpius. “There’s moments when he seems like himself but they’re so rare and seemingly random that I haven’t figured out how they’re connected yet.”

“We were hoping that somehow tonight would be one of those moments,” Ginny replied. Her heart was aching for her son and as much as she wanted to reach out to him so knew that it would be best to wait. Harry was clutching her hand so tightly that she knew he wanted to do the same. They hadn’t always had the best relationship but if there was one thing that Harry Potter was known for it was how fiercely he loved. Something that he’d passed down onto all his children. And seeing how much this was affecting Albus confirmed just how painful loving someone entirely could be. 

“He didn’t even look at me,” Albus whispered. His voice was so hollow, so broken that it seemed to suck all the warmth out of the room. Rose tightened her arm around him and he knew that everyone could feel what he was feeling in that moment. 

“What can we do?” Rose asked, determined as ever that there would be a positive end to this. She hated seeing Albus like this. She could tell by the looks on everyone else’s faces that they did as well. She’d never seen her Uncle Harry looked so pained before. 

“The problem is,” Ron started.

“We really don’t know,” Hermione finished hesitantly. The words hurt her to say. 

Albus pulled away from Rose and stood up, his chair scraping loudly on the kitchen floor. He didn’t look at anyone. He didn’t want to see how they were looking at him with sadness and pity and all the things that he wanted to despise at this point. He just bolted from the room in pursuit of his bedroom.

“Albus!” he heard Rose call after him but he needed to get away from everyone. 

He slammed his door shut and leaned against it, breathing hard. He was torn between wanting to tear everything apart and wanting to cry until he couldn’t feel anymore. He decided against either and sat on his bed instead, hoping that he would fall into nothingness at any moment. 

Rose stood up, about to follow him when Harry spoke up,

“Let me go,” he said to her.

She looked up at him, saw the fire in his eyes that burned so brightly when he was intent on helping someone, especially his family. She nodded and went to go and hug her mother instead. Hermione wrapped her arms around her daughter and pulled her into her lap, whispering comfort into her hair as she started to cry. Harry stood up and headed to Albus’ bedroom. He was grateful that Ginny had insisted on not putting locks in the bedrooms of the house. Even after James’ thousands of debates about privacy that they’d had to endure. He knocked before entering and closed the door behind him again before going to sit next to his son. As much as Harry wanted to just embrace Albus he knew that he had to let him make the first move.

“He didn’t even look at me,” Albus repeated because he didn’t know what else he could say.

“I know,” Harry replied.

“I never thought I could lose him like this,” he sniffled and leaned against his father for support.

Harry put his arm around him automatically, waiting for him to continue. 

“No one knows what’s wrong with him and every day I feel like I’m dying and I don’t know what to do,” he admitted.

Harry’s heart broke. He never wanted his children to feel like that. And after everything that Albus had been through it didn’t feel fair. “The only thing we can do,” he started after a moment, “is continue to fight through it. I know how hard that is, trust me, but if you never give up on him then he’ll return to you.”

Albus nodded. Of course he would fight for his best friend. All he really knew was Scorpius, and he didn’t want anyone else. There would never be a replacement. “Thanks dad,” he muttered. He shifted slightly so that he was hugging his father. Harry hugged him back tightly and Albus wasn’t sure how long they stayed like that because time didn’t really exist for him anymore. He just knew that when he finally pulled away he felt just a little bit better.

***

Being the Minister of Magic, Hermione Granger-Weasley had access to every book ever written. She didn’t normally take advantage of that for personal reasons but she knew that this was something way too important for her to simply not act. On Boxing Day she went back to her office and located every book she could that mentioned time tuners. There were more than a few and she made the effort to borrow all of them without explanation. That evening Hermione and Rose drove to Potter’s house and unloaded all of the book into Harry’s study.

Rose knocked on Albus’ bedroom door and let herself in. Albus was staring out the window absently. There was a book sitting in his lap but she knew that it was just for show. With everything happening with Scorpius, Albus couldn’t bring himself to read. It just felt wrong.

“Al?” she said from the doorway. She was grateful that he at turned to look at her.

“Hey,” he smiled faintly, placing his book down and walking over to her.

“Hey,” she returned his smile, pulling him into a hug. “Mum went into work today and took out all the books she could find that mentioned time turners. There has to be something in at least one of them that helps somehow.” 

“I fucking hope so,” he breathed, pulling away slowly.

“I haven’t received any letters,” she continued.

Albus shook his head. “Me neither.”

“It feels … empty without them doesn’t it?” she asked.

“I think I’ve been empty for months now,” he muttered.

Rose couldn’t help the sadness that seeped into her expression. She tugged on his sleeve gently and lead him up the hall to his father’s study. Harry, Hermione and Ginny were trying to organize the books into neat piles.

“That’s a lot of books,” Albus said, looking around the room. There were books of all sizes and thickness covering the room. 

“That’s everything the Ministry has access to,” Hermione confirmed, straightening. “I promised that I’d help and this seems a good place to start.”

“It’ll take a while to get through them all but maybe there’ll be something that can help,” Ginny offered. She’d been trying to keep optimistic but really she just wanted to do everything she can so that her son could finally be himself again. 

“Where do we even start?” Rose laughed, picking up the nearest book. It was tiny, about the size of a children’s novel, but had shiny cover. 

“We’re trying to determine that now,” Harry replied.

“I don’t think you can really organise this since they’re all on the same topic?” Rose questioned.

“Sub categories,” Hermione shrugged.

“What a way to spend the holiday season,” she laughed, looking over at Albus. She saw a tiny glimmer of hope in his eyes and beamed at him. 

Albus looked over at her, a genuine smile slowly appearing. “We can do this,” he said.

“I know.”

***

Since there were so many books they needed all the help they could get. Hermione contacted Draco and he offered to help in any way that he could. Ron and Ginny contacted their five other brothers and their parents who also offered to help. Albus asked James if he could lend a hand and he agreed straight away. Seeing his brother in the state that he was currently in was as upsetting as it was for the rest of them. Between all of them surely they would be able to find  _ something _ . Anything. Albus didn’t even care what it was at this point he just needed there to be something. 

_ I’m going to help you,  _ he thought, even though he knew that Scorpius couldn’t hear him.  _ I’m going to help you and I’m going to get you back _ . 

***

Before they knew it, it was New Year’s Eve. A part of Albus was more than happy for the year to end, considering how terrible it had turned out to be, but he knew that everything wrong with this year was going to continue into the next at least for a few more weeks. He’d been up late every night since Boxing Day going through book after book in search of something that could explain what was happening to Scorpius. All to no avail. No one else had found anything yet either and Albus was trying his best to ignore the nagging voice at the back of his brain telling him that this was permanent and he’d never get his best friend back. 

Regardless of how late he’d been staying up Albus was determined to make it to midnight. Surely it wouldn’t be a stretch for him. Harry and Ginny once again invited over the Granger-Weasleys and the Malfoys to celebrate. Considering what an absolute shit fest the year had been it was safe to say they were all grateful to wish it farewell. Rose gave Albus a hug upon arriving, it was becoming some sort of ritual for the two of them. They both needed it. 

“Still no luck,” she whispered.

“Me neither,” he replied.

“It’s only a matter of time,” she pulled away.

Albus nodded, wanting so desperately to believe her but finding it harder and harder to each day. He went to hug his aunt and uncle next. Hugo had already run off with Lily talking loudly about how exciting it was to be able to stay up so late. 

The Malfoys arrived seconds later. Scorpius immediately went to hug Rose upon arrival, not so much as glancing at Albus. Albus felt invisible and was ready to drop into the ground forever right there. 

“Any change?” he looked up at Draco, trying to ignore his best friend as much as he was being ignored.

Draco looked down at him and shook his head. Albus realised suddenly just how  _ sad  _ he looked and knew that however hard this was for him, it was at least a hundred times worse for Draco. 

Ginny started ushering them all towards the lounge room, talking about how ridiculous it was to all be hovering in the doorway. Draco struck up a conversation with Harry while Scorpius followed Rose and sat next to her in front of the fireplace. Albus hesitated for a moment before following them. He sat next to Rose and watched as the two of them talked. Even though he was blatantly staring at Scorpius his eyes never moved from Rose. He felt immeasurably uncomfortable and was almost tempted to just retreat into his room again but knew that that wouldn’t help the situation at all. Watching the two of them a thought suddenly stuck him. He stood and made his way over to his uncle who was seated next to his father. 

“Uncle Ron, can I ask you something?” he asked in a quiet voice. There was far too much noise in the room which helped drown his voice out like he wanted it to.

“Of course,” Ron replied, turning his attention to his nephew. 

“What do you know about love potions?”

“Not as much as your Uncle George,” he admitted. 

“Do you think they could cause that?” Albus asked, indicating Scorpius and Rose. 

Ron shook his head. “A love potion only works to create attraction for the person who made it. For it to cause that Rose would have had to make the potion. And they don’t last as long as this.”

“Thank you,” Albus tried to smile. 

“We’ll find something eventually,” Ron reassured, reaching up to pat his nephew’s shoulder gently. 

Albus nodded. He hated the word eventually. He wished they could find something  _ now _ . Albus went and sat next to James. He felt completely miserable and maybe his brother would be able to distract him from it with some stupid story of a prank at Hogwarts he’d pulled.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of time,” James said to him.

Albus rolled his eyes and looked up at his brother. “I hate you,” he replied.

James beamed at that. “You couldn’t hate me if you tried and you know it. Need a distraction?”

“It would certainly help,” Albus muttered, his eyes once again sliding over to Rose and Scorpius. Rose looked up at him apologetically and he shrugged. 

“Maybe we should just get you drunk,” James offered.

“I think that might make it even worse.”

“No wonder everyone thinks you’re the responsible one,” he joked. 

Albus managed to crack a smile at that. “This has been a wretched year,” he said.

James nudged him gently. “You’ve made it all the way to the end. Soon it’ll be over,” he reminded.

“Not for me,” Albus looked over at Scorpius again. He just couldn’t stop himself.

“Hey,” James replied, gently. “You’ll pull through this. We’ve got so many people going through those books someone will manage to find something helpful. Promise.”

“You sound like Rose,” he muttered.

“Good. She’s the voice of reason in all this.”

“I just want everything to go back to normal. It hasn’t been in so long.”

“When were we ever normal?” James smiled.

“Well,” Albus shrugged. “It used to be easier.”

“Patience, it’ll get that way again.”

“Thanks, James.”

“Anytime, little bro,” he replied.

“I think I just need to get away for a minute,” he muttered.

“No one would blame you. Kitchen’s always free.”

Albus smiled faintly and got up. He made his way over to the kitchen and poured himself a glass of water. Part of him was hoping it would help even though he knew it wouldn’t. He barely registered that Rose had followed him until she spoke.

“Albus, I’m so sorry,” she said.

“Don’t apologise,” he replied. “This isn’t your fault.” 

“I know but it still needs to be said. I wish it wasn’t like this.”

“I wish the same.”

Rose sighed and walked up to him so she was no longer in the doorway. “If it makes you feel any better,” she offered, “he doesn’t talk like himself either.”

“I think that makes me feel worse actually,” Albus couldn’t stop the bitterness in his tone. He almost regretted when he saw how upset it made Rose. “Why does it hurt like this?” he half-whispered. There was no one else in the kitchen and no one would have been able to hear him but somehow this had to be a secret conversation between him and his cousin.

Rose shook her head slowly. She needed to be very careful with her words. The real reason, she knew, was because Albus was in love with Scorpius, but since he wasn’t aware of that himself she didn’t want to be the one to break it to him. That was something he had to figure out on his own. “It’s because,” she started slowly, “you two are best friends. You care about each other.” Well, that was lame but at least it seemed to make sense to Albus.

He nodded after a moment, the words sinking into his head. Of course he cared about Scorpius. He cared about him deeply. He’d been his only friend for most of his time at Hogwarts. Hell, he’d even saved his life within the past year. It all made sense really. “You’re right,” he said, and was almost confused at how relieved Rose looked. 

“It’s almost midnight,” she said. “The muggle fireworks will be starting soon.” Rose loved the muggle fireworks. It was the closest thing to magic that she’d seen outside of her world. 

Albus nodded and followed her back to the lounge room with the rest of his family. He was grateful that she didn’t question his choice to stand near the doorway instead of sit with her. He was tempted to go and sit next to his brother but he just needed to be away from everyone for just a bit. The countdown started, his family joining in enthusiastically. Albus wanted to be able to enjoy this. He wanted to be able to countdown to something new and make goals for himself that he would definitely break within two months, but he couldn’t bring himself to. 

The countdown reached zero and the fireworks started. His father reached over to kiss his mother briefly. His uncle and aunt doing the same. Lily kissed James on the cheek, and then Hugo (much to his disgust). His mother even kissed Draco on the cheek and he genuinely  _ laughed  _ at that and said something about how his wife would hardly approve. All of those things Albus was expecting. All of those things were a common occurrence during New Year’s. People kissed each other, it was some sort of tradition of whose origin he wasn’t even sure. What he wasn’t expecting was Scorpius to lean over and kiss Rose. Even though he knew that Rose wasn’t expecting that either Albus was suddenly reminded of what he thought dying must feel like. He felt sick. He had to leave. He couldn’t stay here. Albus bolted from the room and out the back door of his house. He’d accidently slammed the door and knew, sadly, that it would bring attention to him. Something that he didn’t want. The Potters had a nice garden but that wasn’t why he was out there. He just needed to leave and running away into the middle of the night when he had no destination would hardly help him in this case. He just needed the fresh air. He was sure he would be throwing up soon. 

“Albus?” Rose asked from doorway. She rushed out to her cousin when she saw the state he was in. Albus was incredibly pale, paler than usual. And the moonlight didn’t help the fact that he looked sickly.

“I love him, don’t I?” Albus asked her. Because suddenly it all made sense to him. Why it had hurt so much to see Scorpius looking at Rose the way he did. He was reminded of what Rose’s Hufflepuff friend had said in Hogsmeade. ( _ “It must be hard, to see someone you love look at someone else like that” _ ) 

“Yes,” Rose replied. She knew he would figure it out eventually, but she really really wished that it hadn’t been like this.

Albus could feel the weight of the world crushing down on him and he realised that he couldn’t breathe. Rose reached forward and grabbed onto him as he stumbled, almost falling to the ground.

“Mum!” she yelled back into the direction of the house. She knew the desperation in her voice would trigger someone into action.

Hermione appeared at the doorway and looked down at a scene that was all too familiar to her. Her heart broke at the sight of it. “Harry!” she called back into the house. 

Harry rushed to her side and upon seeing his son bolted towards him. “Albus?” he looked at him, taking him gently by the shoulders. 

“Dad ... I can’t ... breathe,” he whispered. Tears had formed in his eyes and were starting to slowly run down his cheeks. He couldn’t stop them. 

Hermione pulled her daughter into her arms, hating that she was crying and shaking but knowing that she would have reacted the same. “This isn’t your fault,” she whispered, stroking Rose’s hair comfortingly. 

Harry got Albus to sit down on the ground. There were fireworks in the sky. Other people were celebrating and yet his family was always thrown into some kind of turmoil. He’d wished that it would end with him so his children wouldn’t have to feel like this. Looking at Albus now all he could feel was failure. “We’re going to count slowly and you’re going to try and breathe in and out, ok?” he said. If there was one thing that Harry Potter knew about intimately, it was panic attacks. His PTSD following the Battle of Hogwarts had proved that. “You’re going to be ok,” he reassured. 

“Albus!?”.

Rose cursed because of course Scorpius would choose  _ now  _ to go back to normal. Now after the damage had already been done. She watched as he ran to Albus’ side. She saw the panic in his eyes and the worry. All things that she’d seen so often in Albus’ eyes. She almost regretted the thought that Scorpius deserved to feel that way now. She didn’t want to be angry at him. She knew that this wasn’t his fault entirely but her cousin was on the ground gasping for breath and she needed someone to blame.

“Albus, what’s wrong?” Scorpius asked, dropping to the ground beside his best friend. “What can I do?”

“You’ve done enough,” Harry snapped. It came out harsher than he expected it and immediately felt guilty at the look in Scorpius’ eyes. 

“What did I do?” Scorpius looked at him and then up at Rose. “Rose, what did I do?”

Rose sighed and pulled away from her mother, wiping her eyes as she did. She walked over to Scorpius and tugged on his sleeve until he stood and then continued to do so until they were in the house. He pulled back and stopped so she turned to look at him. He looked so desperately panicked that she stopped walking as well.

“Rose, why aren’t we at Hogwarts?” he asked her, his voice so quiet.

“Scorpius, it’s New Year’s Day,” she replied.

His confusion only grew. She tugged on his sleeve again until they were in the lounge room. Everyone looked up at them as they entered. Draco’s face looked grave to say the least. He wanted his son back more than anything but under the circumstances it was truly the worst thing that could happen right now. Rose pushed Scorpius down by the shoulders into her mother’s vacant seat next to his father. He looked like a deer in the headlights, a lost puppy. The worry and guilt in his eyes so profound that she did feel sorry for him.

“What’s the last thing you can remember?” she asked him seriously. 

“Rose … I don’t … I don’t know,” he stammered, his eyes glancing around the room quickly and not settling on any one person or thing.

“Yes you do,” she didn’t mean to be harsh or sound mean but she was determined as hell. Rose was every bit her mother in that moment. 

Scorpius gulped and focused on her face. He tried to cast his mind back but all that seemed to come up was blankness. He had no idea what was going on or how he’d got to the Potter’s lounge room that day. “Quidditch,” he said finally, a thought occurring to him. “Albus caught the snitch. Slytherin won the game against Hufflepuff.”

“Scorp, that was weeks ago.”

He shook his head. Trying to think of something else.  _ Anything else.  _ “The Hogwarts Express,” he muttered. “We were … going home for the holidays. Rose, how did I miss Christmas?”

Rose looked at him, trying to link the moments together in her head. Quidditch, Hogwarts Express, Potter Household. There had to be a link between them, a trigger that brought him from his dazed state. There had to be something that woke him up. Rose cursed again as she realised what it was. How could she have missed it before? It was so painfully obvious. It was Albus. Albus was the trigger. Of  _ course  _ it was him. It was always Albus for Scorpius. “Scorp, do you remember kissing me just now?” she asked him, taking the smallest bit of pleasure in the way that his eyes widened in complete horror.

“I kissed you?” he questioned. “Rose … I’m sorry. I don’t think I meant to?”

She laughed at that. “Doesn’t matter,” she shrugged, “you weren’t that great anyway.” He looked just the slightest bit offended at that and she almost laughed again. She wasn’t sure how long this would last but she was so glad they had him back even just for the moment. Rose looked up at her father and her aunt. Everyone had been working tirelessly to figure out what was causing this and while they still didn’t know the answer at least she know what, or rather  _ who _ , could bring Scorpius out of it. “Albus is the trigger,” she said to them.

“Of course he is,” Ginny rolled her eyes.

“It’s always Albus, isn’t it?” Ron smirked.

“What’s always me?” Albus asked from the doorway. He was leaning against the doorframe for support. He still looked a little weak but his eyes went directly to his best friend. Harry was a few steps behind him, making sure he wasn’t about to drop to the floor again. 

Scorpius looked up at Albus but didn’t say anything. He knew that he’d done something wrong. And if he’d somehow managed to kiss Rose then it was definitely that. He felt a little sick but mostly he was completely confused. If he’d blacked out for weeks on end then who knows what he’d missed. He could have done so many things in that time to hurt people and unless they told him he’d never know.

“You’re looking at me,” Albus muttered. He knew it was a stupid thing to say but after weeks of not even being acknowledged or being ridiculed, eye contact alone was almost too much. 

Scorpius didn’t say anything, just grew even more confused. He always looked at Albus, didn’t he?

“Is he him again?” Albus asked, his eyes never leaving Scorpius even though his question was directed at Rose.

“Yes,” she replied.

“How long do we have?”

“I don’t know. On the Hogwarts Express it lasted a few hours but maybe it varies.”

“We still have no idea what’s causing it,” Hermione said, appearing at the doorway behind Harry. 

“But we do know what causes him to come out of it,” Rose smiled proudly. 

Albus took a hesitant step forward. He was incredibly aware that practically his entire family (and Draco) were in the room but all he really wanted to do was hug Scorpius. It was late and there were still fireworks being set off but Albus was wide awake. “What causes it?” he asked, his eyes flicking to Rose.

“You,” she said.

“Me?”

“I’m sorry but I really have no idea what’s going on,” Scorpius spoke. Everyone around him was talking about him and yet he had no idea what they were referring to. 

James stood up and ushered Lily and Hugo out of the room saying something about watching the fireworks outside instead of on the TV. Really he knew that everyone else needed to be alone so they could figure all of this out. 

“What do you remember?” Albus asked, taking a few more steps towards Scorpius. 

“Quidditch and the Hogwarts Express,” Rose answered for him.

“That’s it?”

“That’s it,” she confirmed

“But that’s weeks that are missing.”

She nodded, just as unsure as he was. 

Albus looked up at his father. His parents, aunt and uncle had seen a lot of things and even though he knew that they hadn’t seen anything like this he was still hoping for some kind of guidance. “Could it be the time turner?” he looked at his Aunt Hermione. 

“Albus, I’m sorry. I really don’t know. When we used it we only went back hours, not years,” she replied.

“You think the time turner made me lose my memory?” Scorpius asked.

“Where your memory is blank you weren’t yourself. You existed in physical form, I guess but you never acted like yourself. Your eyes were glazed over, you don’t read, you don’t even look at me most of the time and you only really talk to Rose, or her friends when we’re at Hogwarts,” Albus explained. 

“I don’t read?” Scorpius asked, as if that was the horrifying thing that Albus had said.

He almost laughed because  _ that  _ was the Scorpius he knew. And loved.

“I don’t know what you’re like at home but I think it’s much the same,” Albus continued.

“It’s worse,” Draco supplied.

“Dad, I’m sorry,” Scorpius looked up at his father.

“Scorpius, it’s not your fault,” he reassured. 

Albus took a few more steps until he was next to Rose. “What do we do?” he whispered to her. 

“I don’t know,” she replied. “I really wish I did.”

“I - we could lose him again at any minute,” he muttered.

“I know, Al.”

“Why am I the trigger?” he asked.

Rose looked over at him, a smirk forming on her lips. “Why do you think?”

Albus’ eyes widened just slightly as the meaning sunk in. “Really?” he asked.

“You two are so clueless,” she sighed dramatically, still smirking.

“If we know the trigger then can we get Scorpius back to normal?” Rose looked up at her mother.

“I hope so,” she said. The worst part of all of this was that everyone was as unsure as each other. 

“I guess the good thing is now we know what to look for in those books,” Ginny spoke.

There were mutters of it getting late and it seemed to occur to all them that trying to figure this out while tired wouldn’t be helping anyone. If they knew the trigger then surely they could prompt Scorpius out of his other state again if he happened to return to it. The adults left the room and Rose trailed behind them, knowing that Albus and Scorpius needed a minute to themselves. 

Scorpius stood and hesitated for just a second before making his way over to Albus. Albus pulled his best friend into a hug automatically, something that he’d been needing for what felt like forever. 

“Al, I’m so sorry. I know I must have upset you somehow before and I don’t know if you can ever forgive me,” Scorpius was saying.

“I missed you, you idiot,” Albus replied. “Don’t worry about me.”

Scorpius pulled away again and looked at his best friend. “Did I do anything stupid at Hogwarts? Flunk all my classes? Start a fire in the girls bathroom?”

Albus laughed. “No, nothing that extreme,” he said.

“I can’t believe I don’t read,” he muttered.

“You have some kind of infatuation with Rose though,” Albus muttered. “In your other state I mean.”

“Rose?” he asked. 

Albus nodded. “I mean, you kissed her so other you must like her a lot.”

Scorpius grimaced at the thought. He liked Rose, but not in that way at all. There was someone else that he thought of romantically. He looked up at Albus again and realised that if he was going to be transitioning between real him and other him for who knew how long that he had to tell him while he could. “Albus, I need you to know something.”

He hesitated. Scorpius only used his full name if he had to tell him something serious. “Ok?” he replied.

Scorpius looked down again, trying to figure out how to word this. This was his best friend after all. He’d rather die than lose Albus. He took a deep breath and met Albus’ eyes. “I know that I kissed Rose somehow and you must have seen me but …,” he hesitated. “I just want you to know that I would have much rather … kissed … you,” he finished lamely.

Albus looked at his best friend. There was uncertainty in his eye’s but behind that there was something familiar to him. It was the way he looked at Rose. At least, when he wasn’t himself. Albus realised that he couldn’t breathe again, but this time it was in a good way. Maybe this was what he’d wanted all along. For Scorpius to love him back. That’s why it was so painful to see him look at Rose in that way. “Why don’t you?” he asked, breathless. 

“What?” Scorpius muttered. He wasn’t sure what he expected but it definitely wasn’t that. Did Albus love him too?

“Why don’t you kiss me?” Albus confirmed. 

“Al, I -” he hesitated.

_ You know what, fuck it _ , Albus thought. He pulled on Scorpius’ sweater gently, closing the few inches between them. He almost revelled in the surprised sound that Scorpius made when Albus pressed his lips against his tentatively. He slid a hand into Scorpius’ hair and felt him wrap his arms around Albus’ waist in response. After a moment, Albus pulled away again. He didn’t really want anyone to come looking for them since everyone was waiting to leave. “You know, like that?” he smirked.

Scorpius laughed at that. The way Albus was looking at him almost made him weak. Even if he somehow transformed into some gross other version of himself at least he had this moment. “I want you to remember me like this,” he said suddenly.

“What do you mean?” Albus muttered, sobering just a little.

“I mean, if I change back into whatever other version of me there is I want you to remember how I’m looking at you right now.”

Albus nodded, understanding completely. “If you can I hope you remember this too.”

“I will. But if for some reason I look at Rose like this, just know that I would rather it be you.” Scorpius kissed Albus’ forehead and pulled away completely. “I should probably go before my dad comes to look for me.”

Albus nodded again. “I guess I’ll see you … whenever.”

“I guess so,” Scorpius hesitated just a bit. 

“It was nice, yeah?” Albus asked.

“Kissing you?”

“Yeah.”

Scorpius smiled at his best friend. “It was nice,” he confirmed.  _ More than nice _ , he thought.

“Cool,” Albus muttered, and followed Scorpius to the front door. The only thing the two of them had missed was James handing a smirking Rose 3 galleons while Harry and Ron handed 4 galleons each to both Hermione and Ginny. 

Everyone said goodbyes and soon the Potters were all that remained. Ginny ushered Lily off to bed, she was incredibly sleepy and probably would have fallen asleep before midnight if she didn’t harbour her mother’s determination. Harry followed her by Lily’s request, leaving James and Albus alone in the entryway. 

“I mean, I’m happy you got it in but you lost me 3 galleons so I’m not entirely sure how I feel about that,” James smirked.

Albus’ eyes widened as he realised what that meant. How many people had seen them? “I’m sorry,” he replied automatically.

James laughed at that. “Albus,” he smiled, putting a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “It’s a good thing.”

Albus nodded and smiled back at James.

“Now we better get to bed before mum and dad come back.”

“You’re right. I guess I am kind of exhausted,” Albus shrugged. 

“Happy New Year, Al.”

“Happy New Year, James.”

***

When Albus woke up the next morning it was much closer to midday than would be expected. Regardless of that fact breakfast was still being served. His parents and Lily were already awake. Albus assumed that James would sleep at least a few more hours before finally rising. That’s usually what happened, at least. There was still nothing he loved more than the smell of his father’s cooking. Scorpius was definitely equal to that. Lily was dipping bread soldiers into her eggs at the table as he entered the kitchen. Albus felt inexplicably happy and hadn’t felt that way in a long time. He beamed at his family and they smiled back. 

“A letter came for you this morning,” Ginny smiled, sliding the envelope across the table to her son. 

Albus would recognise the handwriting anywhere. And even if he hadn’t, the Malfoy Manor seal gave it away. 

“Bacon or no bacon?” Harry asked as he watched Albus eye the letter happily.

“Oh, definitely bacon,” Albus smiled up at him. He took a clean butter knife and slowly opened the envelope, treating it with caution as if it was the most valuable thing he’d ever had his hands on. Of course it wasn’t, because that was Scorpius, but it was close. 

_ Al, _

_ I know I might not have long to write this and I can’t send it straight away but I know you’ll get it in the morning and I think that’s enough. I just wanted to say that kissing you was wonderful and if you’d like to do that again sometime then I’m up for it. I guess, we’d have to wait until I was normal again. I don’t know how that really works and I know you don’t either but I guess between you and Rose you’ll figure it out. That brings me to my second point. I know you’re worried about everything. I mean, with my other self apparently having some kind of thing for your cousin, that must be really weird for you. I guess what I’m trying to say is even though it might not seem like it all the time, I’m yours.  _

 

  * __Scorpius.__



 

Albus beamed down at the letter in front of him before carefully placing it back in its envelope.  _ I’m yours too _ , he thought. 

“Al, is Scorpius your  _ boyfriend? _ ” Lily teased, because she was almost thirteen and was at the age where she wanted to know everything about everyone else.

“We didn’t really discuss it,” Albus shrugged. Boyfriend did have a nice ring to it though. 

“Scorpius and Albus sitting in a tree,” Lily sang.

“Lily,” Ginny chastised, but she was smirking just the tiniest bit.

“What’s this about Scorpius having a boyfriend?” James yawned from the doorway. “Does that mean I lose another 3 galleons?”

Albus groaned and accepted his bacon & eggs from his father who was smiling at him kindly. At least, this did seem better than him being miserable all the time. This he could deal with. 

***

With winter break only being two weeks the time flew by and soon Albus was standing on Platform  9¾ between his brother and his father. Ginny was giving Lily a hug before she rushed off upon seeing a few of her friends. She turned to Albus next, pulling him into her arms. 

“You’ll take care of your sister won’t you?” she asked.

“You know we always do, mum,” he smiled at her. 

She ruffled his hair as he pulled away before reaching for James next.

“Mum!” Albus protested.

Harry laughed and pulled his son into a hug. “Take care of yourself too,” he said. “Nothing’s more important than that.”

“I’ll try,” Albus replied, hugging his father a little longer than usual. 

“You know, you’d think we’d get used to dropping them off like this,” Hermione smiled as she approached the Potters, her husband and children with her.

“It never gets easier,” Ginny agreed as James spotted some of his friends and sauntered off towards them. 

Rose came up to hug Albus while Hugo ran off to join Lily. “Feeling ok about going back?” she asked. 

“I just hope it’s better than before break,” he shrugged. 

“It will be,” she smiled, optimistic as ever. 

“You two better hurry or you’ll miss the train,” Harry smiled.

“And we know how terrible that can be, right Harry?” Ron smirked.

“Don’t remind me,” he rolled his eyes. 

Rose hugged her mother and father and tugged on Albus’ sleeve gently. 

“I’ll owl you when we get there!” Albus called back to his family.

  
“I’ll do the same!” Rose added. 

The Potters and the Granger-Weasleys watched as all of their children boarded the Hogwarts Express once again. They almost wished they could go back themselves, and wished so every time. But at least they knew their children got to experience the magic as well. Even if it wasn’t always the greatest time of their lives. And maybe it didn’t get easier to see them off but that was just all apart of growing up and being a parent, wasn’t it?

Albus and Rose made their way along the train until they found an empty compartment. They quickly snatched at it before anyone else could. They’d rather not share but if they had to, Rose knew that her other friends would be happy to join them. And they’d be happy to have them. The two of them took their seats, placing their bags above their heads for the moment. There was a knock on the compartment door and the two of them looked up to see Scorpius gazing through the door. Albus stood up to unlock it, pulling the door open. 

“Can I sit with you guys?” Scorpius smiled, looking every bit himself in the most wonderful way.

“What’s the password?” Albus smirked.

“Time turners anonymous?” he questioned.

“It’s actually chocolate frogs but we’ll let you in just this once,” Rose laughed. 

Scorpius stepped into the compartment, and placed his bag next to Albus’ as Albus closed the door behind him. 

“You’re you,” Rose beamed at him. She could feel the happiness radiating off of her cousin. 

“Surprisingly yes,” he replied, sitting down next to Albus. 

“How long?”

“I’m not entirely sure, my memory’s still a little fuzzy. I think it might have been just since this morning.”

“Well obviously you were just excited to see me,” Albus smirked at his best friend.

“Obviously,” Scorpius returned his smirk.

“I’m glad the two of you have gone back to your normal ways of making heart-eyes at each other,” Rose said. “It was kind of boring having you ignore Albus the whole time. Not that I minded all the attention but I could get it from anyone.”

“Oh really now?” Scorpius laughed. “Sorry about that, Al,” he added.

“Of course she could,” Albus laughed. “I’ve seen at least half a dozen Gryffindor boys eye her.” 

Rose rolled her eyes. “You couldn’t even see this one making eyes at you and he was right in front of you the whole time so I don’t believe a thing about that,” she replied.

“Point taken,” Albus muttered, slightly ashamed. 

“So are we,” Scorpius cleared his throat and looked at Albus. “Are we a thing now?” he asked lamely. 

“Would you like to be?” he replied.

“Oh you two are so dumb. Of course he’d like to be,” Rose interrupted. “You two are dating now, ok? Finally.” 

“I do think that boyfriend has a nice ring to it,” Albus admitted shyly.

“I can’t fault you there,” Scorpius agreed. “And plus,” he continued, “I’d really like to be able to do this.” He slid his hand into Albus’ gently and squeezed. 

“Merlin’s beard. You sappy dorks just wanted to hold hands this whole time didn’t you?” Rose asked. “I can’t believe I’m related to one of you.”

Albus coughed and tried to pretend that he wasn’t blushing. “If you’ve known how long I’ve wanted this then I hope you know how to deal with it,” he muttered.

Rose rolled her eyes. “Albus Severus Potter - which by the way is an absolutely terrible name. I did some reading before the break and your middle name should just be eradicated from history,” she paused and took a deep breath. “I am beyond happy for you and your dumb boyfriend. You got that?”

“Loud and clear,” he laughed. 

“You’re a fiery one aren’t you,” Scorpius laughed. “I almost forgot that somehow.”

“I take after my mother,” she announced proudly. 

“Poor Uncle Ron,” Albus laughed. 

Rose threw a book at him and managed to hit his head with it. “Oh, shut up,” she said. “I can’t believe I’m friends with either of you.”

“I wouldn’t go so far as to say that. Apparently other me is quite fond of you,” Scorpius smirked.

“Urgh, don’t remind me,” Rose muttered. “I have done some reading though.”

“Of course you have,” Albus rolled his eyes.

“And I think I might know what caused that. I was talking to my mum about it and she agreed that I might be right.”

Albus and Scorpius both leaned forward slightly, their interest peaking. “What do you think it was then?”

“Scorp, you know how when you travelled in time you basically witnessed alternative realities?” she asked. 

Scorpius nodded slowly, a chill going up his spin. “Yeah. It wasn’t very fun,” he said, “regardless if everyone liked me or not.”

“I think that the other you might be the one from another one of those alternate realities. And maybe somehow the two of you got stuck together, you know, as a side effect of meddling with time. Because Albus is from this world and him triggering you back to normal means that the normal you is from this world too. And him kissing you probably brought you back entirely,” she explained.

“That actually makes a lot of sense,” Albus mused.

“Wait,” Scorpius paused. “Does that mean that in another reality we’re together?” he grimaced, looking over at Rose.

“I’m not going to pretend that I’m happy about it,” she grimaced as well.

“Ok, so there’s a reality that you were never born and a reality that you’re dating Scorpius. I wonder what other realities there are for me,” Albus said. 

“You mean besides the one where you weren’t born either?” Rose asked.

“Obviously.”

“Maybe you’re the bad guy in one,” Scorpius shrugged. “It’s possible.”

“I think I like this reality the best of all,” Albus beamed at him.

“I think I’m going to throw up,” Rose said.

“Weren’t you the one that wanted to set us up?” Scorpius asked her.

“Yes. You didn’t have to see how miserable Albus was without you. It was horrible.”

Scorpius looked over sadly. “Al, I’m sorry.”

“It really doesn’t matter now,” he smiled. “Really, it doesn’t.”

There was another knock on their compartment door and they looked up to see some of Rose’s friends waving at them.

“Do you think they know the password?” Rose asked.

“I say just let them in,” Scorpius shrugged. “I don’t know if any of us have sweets but -”

“It’s the easiest way to make new friends,” Albus finished for him.

“You two are disgusting,” she rolled her eyes sarcastically before getting up and letting her friends in. 

“I can’t believe it!” one of the Gryffindor boys said. Albus recognised him from the quidditch pitch but couldn’t put a name to the face. It took him a minute to realise that he was looking down at Scorpius and his clutched hands. “Potter and Malfoy finally got together!” he yelled. 

There was a cheer from Rose’s friends and Albus and Scorpius looked at each other, confused.

“What?” Rose smirked. “You didn’t seriously think I was the only one cheering for the two of you, did you?”

“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised,” Albus replied. 

Scorpius laughed as Rose’s friends filed in and sat with the three of them. Hogwarts hadn’t ever been the best place for him to be but somehow he got the feeling that the rest of this year, and the ones after it would be a lot better than the others. And as he looked over at Albus, who was still holding his hand quite tightly, he knew why that was. Because it had always been Albus, and part of him was desperately hoping that it always would be. Maybe Scorpius couldn’t tell what the future would hold but he definitely knew what he wanted out of it, and that was definitely the boy sitting next to him. 

Scorpius leaned over so that he could whisper something in Albus’ ear. Their new friends were loud enough to drown out whatever was going to pass between them. “I love you,” he said. He was incredibly pleased when a bright pair of eyes came to meet his own.

“You’re a massive dork,” Albus replied. “I can’t believe I’m dating you.”

“That’s a lie and you know it.”

“Not really,” Albus smirked. “I love you too,” he said. 

“Rose! Why does your cousin and his boyfriend have to be all mushy?”

Albus looked up and saw the Hufflepuff girl that he’d sat next to in the Three Broomsticks smiling over at him. He beamed at her. “Sorry. We’ll try and keep the mushiness to a minimum,” he laughed.

“You bloody well better. Otherwise it’ll make it incredibly hard to beat you at quidditch,” the Gryffindor boy spoke again.

“Why’s that?” Albus asked.

“Because I don’t want this one on my arse,” he nudged Scorpius. “You two might be cute but he’s still a Malfoy.”

The boy wasn’t saying it to be rude. There was a smirk on his lips and he was just joking around. Scorpius started laughing and Albus realised that he’d never felt so alive. Even though it had only been a new year for about a week, he was sure that this was going to be a good one. And the boy that he was still happily holding hands with was definitely the reason for that. Albus beamed across at Rose who rolled her eyes at him jokingly. Maybe they hadn’t always gotten along but he knew that the two of them and Scorpius would be inseparable now. Regardless if they were in different houses or not. And he’d truly enjoy playing against Rose during quidditch. Things were looking up and he was forever grateful for the people he had around him. Albus looked over at Scorpius again. Catching his eye, he beamed at his best friend - his  _ boyfriend _ , he corrected himself. Bloody hell, this was going to be a good year. 

**Author's Note:**

> Ta daaa! 
> 
> I did enjoy writing this a lot though so hopefully I'll write these two again soon! Oh, and none of the side characters had names because I literally have no idea who's in Albus' year at all because none of that information of given out in CC and I didn't want to take the "let's make a whole bunch of OCs" route because that didn't feel right for me personally. So that's why that's the way it is. Also, this is dedicated to my other half who read, enjoyed and praised this and also encouraged me to post it. 
> 
> Until next time, farewell, my friends.


End file.
